May 18, 2013
Hard Resolved

This week was hard. I almost didn't post this, as you can tell from the late timestamp. I'm very aware of how it can be used against me, and what people will think of me. Malcolm reappeared and caused trouble quite some distance from where Myron and I squared off against his proxy. This time several people were injured. My team was not there when it happened. A kill order came down from the Protectorate on Malcolm after his involvement was verified. There's no other way to candy coat it. If it became possible to do it with little evidence--read witnesses--he was to die. It didn't have to be my team, but I did not shirk my responsibility, since I had accepted his case.

Myron got out of the hospital already with strict orders from the doctor to lay or sit around at home. Thanks to our training and team composition that didn't mean that Myron couldn't help. Jack accompanied me out into the field. Jenny was on surveillance detail on site, while Melvin had an overview of all local camera feeds. On Thursday we caught up with Malcolm and a brunette woman. Like the last time, they were ahead of us, and he spoke to the woman who stopped and turned to open fire. With good visual coverage and a plan in place I immediately spun the gun from her hand before she was even in position to fire. I lucked out and she stopped right near a light post. I half flipped her like she was bending over for the gun and she hit the side of her head on the post. Jack closed the distance while she was stunned and slapped a pair of handcuffs on her. An open, empty, wallet served as police badge to anyone who looked at it--seeing his illusion of one.

What Malcolm didn't know was that Jack was alone and the me that was with him an illusion. I had gotten in front of him. As soon as he saw me he grabbed a man by the shoulder and whispered something to him. The man made a beeline right for me. There were several people between us and I didn't have a good line of sight to make a believable accident. Malcolm skirted to the edge of the sidewalk nearest the road and started to run. Traffic whizzed by on the road. I ignored the controlled man and turned my head and part of my body to follow where he was going. I could tell the man was almost on top of me. Malcolm dodged around another pedestrian and I pushed him lightly out into the road right in front of delivery van.

The man grabbed for me and, with some added momentum from me, fell flat on his face when I sidestepped him. I set a focus to hold him down until the conditioning wore off. Meanwhile Malcolm was bleeding out on the road. I watched from where I was with the other rubberneckers. Paramedics declared him dead on arrival, I guess. Jack had dragged the would be shooter back the way he had come and disappeared into the crowd. He let her go after liberating another gun from her. She was still groggy and hadn't seen his real face anyway. I left the man pinned to the pavement. He struggled but didn't make a sound. I walked away and released him after a ten count when I felt a safe enough distance away. That was it. Another threat was off the street, and I had killed again.

Tags: illusion, Jack Tourmaline, Jenny Brumal, Malcolm Jonovich, Melvin Klein, mental domination, murder, Myron Nath, The Protectorate, psychokinesis, split focus, surveillance, witnesses.